Chapter 46
“You know, if I walk in there without you, I’m gonna get lynched.” JC said to Ruth as he pulled on his shoes.
Ruth nodded from her position in JC’s bed, duvet pulled up, only her head, shoulders and arms escaping, and that was only because she had tea and toast.
“And you’re getting crumbs in my bed.” He added.
Ruth nodded again.
“And you don’t care do you?” he said with a smile.
Ruth shook her head this time. Although she did throw a toasty smile this time.
“Oh there’s attractive.” JC said in response to that one. “I’m not forgiven yet am I?”
Ruth shook her head again.
“You can talk you know.” JC added, sitting next to Ruth on the bed.
“Can’f. Tst.” She muttered, waving the toast in the air.
“I’ll have to talk to you then. You’re going to join us for lunch, yes? So Stevie or Lonnie will come back for you. At about 1.00 I think.”
Ruth nodded. “Yep.” She said, her mouth finally clear of toast.
“What you gonna do till then?” JC asked.
“Sleep, Shower. Maybe sleep more.” She said, snuggling further under the duvet now that she’d finished eating.
“That’s not fair. I didn’t get much sleep either and I have to work.” JC said, stroking her hair.
“That’s ‘cos you were an arse. Justin and Chris got less sleep. They had to take me to hospital, remember?” Ruth said, turning to look JC in the eye.
JC reddened slightly. “Sorry. They are gonna kill me aren’t they?”
“Probably.” Ruth replied.
“And you’re going to let me walk in there without you?”
“Yep.”
“I’m not going to convince you to come early, am I?”
“Nope. But you have to go.” Ruth said, looking at the clock.
“Crap. Okay. I’ll see you in a couple of hours, okay.” JC kissed Ruth on the forehead and left the room to go to Top of the Pops. He really wasn’t looking forward to it.
JC sat in the car on the way to the studio, mulling over what had just happened in his mind. One minute he and Ruth were arguing, the next he was kissing her. Then… well, then things had gone on a little quickly, although Ruth stopped it before it went too far. Problem was now, he was just feeling horny. Especially when he thought about the fact that Ruth was tucked up in his bed right now.
JC shook his head to get those thoughts out. Earning him an odd look from Lynn who was sitting opposite him in the car. She’d had a lie in this morning and decided to come along with JC. Not that JC was actually talking to her at all. He understood Justin’s reasons for keeping in touch, mostly to protect his Grandparents from what his mother had done, but also because of that tight bond that had always been between them.
JC just looked up and smiled, a nice fake smile like he gave to the cameras. No, just because Justin forgave Lynn, it certainly didn’t mean that he did.
So, back to Ruth. What was going on now. He needed to get this straight in his head before facing the other guys. They were defiantly speaking again. He thought they might even be ‘dating’. Not that he could do a whole load of dating. Boyfriend and girlfriend. Not yet. He had the distinct feeling that he had a whole load more grovelling to do before he got that status. Wow. He thought to himself. I’m perfectly willing to do that grovelling.
So, what about the guys. No doubt by now Joey and Lance would have been told what was going on. So he was going to be facing the firing squad when he walked in there. Especially because he didn’t have Ruth in tow.
They pulled up at the studio and Lonnie patted JC on the back. “Ready?” he asked.
“Ready.” JC replied.
Strangely though, when he walked into the dressing room he didn’t get anything. They told him about the interview this morning. They showed him the clothes the stylist had picked out, they made no mention of the night before or this morning all the time they were in the dressing room.
JC was going mad. It had been an hour now, they were about to stop for lunch and still no one had said anything. Ruth was due in the next five minutes and he was now petrified that something was going to go down.
The guys stopped rehearsal for a lunch break at the exact moment Ruth walked through the doors. She wandered towards the group, laughing as Justin and Chris jumped off the stage to great her. JC hung back for a moment, and Ruth threw him a smile. At which point he followed the other two guys off the stage. Ruth and Justin exchanged a smile and then she by-passed them to go straight to JC.
The confusion in his face combined with the grin when Ruth kissed him set everyone into fits of laughter. To which he turned and questioned ‘What?’
Joey spoke up first. “Oh, man. You’ve been on egg shells all morning. It’s been so funny.”
Chris butted in. “Ruth called us once you’d left. Told us that you’d made up, but thought you should sweat it out for a while. Just as a bit of pay-back.”
“Oh man, C. Your face every time Justin got near you on the stage. A picture man. You looked as if he was gonna punch you if you got too close.” Lance joined in. “Then, you’d turn and you’d see Chris and oh.”
The whole group, baring JC, burst into laughter again. He just stood there, looking slightly sheepish. Ruth took his hand.
“Come on, you deserved that. We’re square now.” She said, smiling. Hoping that he wouldn’t get overly upset about this. She hadn’t been sure, but Chris and Justin had insisted on it.
Luckily, JC just smiled in that cute little crinkly eye way that he does and shrugged his shoulders. “I guess I did.” He said, then pulled Ruth back into him, her back to his chest and kissed her on the top of her head.
They all settled down to a quick lunch then, before the guys went back to the stage to rehearse one last time before the audience came in.
Ruth and Justine sneaked off during this part, hid in the dressing room. It wasn’t good for them to be seen with the guys, fans could and would get very possessive. Hollie had left that morning, she’d had a 12.00 lecture and wouldn’t be back now till the weekend. So the two sisters settled in with cups of tea and had a good old gossip.
Janine’s wedding plans were coming alone nicely. They were planning a small ceremony over the Christmas break, mostly because that’s when they had the time off, the European tour finishing on December 18th and they were recording the new album early in the year, ready to take the new and old songs on the road in America over summer.
The girls were planning to go shopping the next day, security permitting. Janine hadn’t even started looking for dresses yet, and although she wasn’t going to be in a meringue or anything, she did want something slightly bridal. Manchester had some big wedding stores and they were looking forward to hitting them! The only thing upsetting Ruth now was that she’d not been with JC long enough to be able to tease him about getting ideas. Took half the fun out of wedding shopping.
The girls were laughing, in that way that only sisters or best friends can do, the one that gets men paranoid, when the guys walked back in.
Of course, seeing their faces set the girls off once again and Chris just put his hands in his head. “Good luck, man” Justin whispered to JC, who just looked scared. It’d been so long since Ruth had actually laughed, everyone had forgotten how dirty it was!
“Sorry,” Janine spluttered, “We’re talking about weddings. And… Ruth….” The girls made eye contact with each other and cracked up again.
This then set the guys off, ribbing JC, which didn’t help Janine and Ruth’s situation. It wasn’t until Ruth started coughing, eventually whispering ‘Can’t breathe’, that people actually calmed down.
Janine stood behind her sister, rubbing her back, trying to calm her down. The guys all stood, shocked, not knowing what was going on.
Janine saw the look on their faces and quickly explained that Ruth was actually asthmatic as a child, but had grown out of it, apart from when upset. The problem was, that if she got one coughing fit, she was then prone to others for a couple of days afterwards. Not as bad, but they took it out of her.
Ruth was breathing better by now, although wheezing a lot. “Guys, I’m gonna take her back to the hotel, okay. I’ll stay there with her tonight. You’re back straight after the concert, yeah?” Janine was still rubbing on Ruth’s back, keeping her calm, speaking continuously so Ruth wouldn’t try too. Chris nodded and called for a car to take the girls back.
Ruth stood to leave the room, her face ashen still. She looked to JC as if to say, ‘Okay, now is when you start acting the boyfriend’ I’ll give you a chance before I go to Justin. Again, he took the hint and gave her a gentle hug before kissing her lightly and whispering ‘You staying in my room?’.
Ruth nodded, still not quite able to talk and the two girls then left with security to go back to the hotel.
Later That Night
Ruth was half dozing, half awake when JC got back to their room at 11.30 that night. She’d left a side light on for him so she could get some rest, but he didn’t get the hint and put the main overhead light on. “Owwwwwwwwww” Ruth muttered, as the lights stung her eyes.
“Sorry,” cried JC, switching the lights back off again.
“S’okay, I’m awake now.” Ruth muttered.
JC sat down on the side of the bed, next to Ruth. “You feeling okay now? Been worried about you.” He looked down at her, well what he could see of her as she was still hiding under the duvet away from the light. She poked her head out to say hi, and immediately pulled it back in again.
”You stink.” She muttered.
“Sorry, but 90 minutes of dancing and singing, you know.” JC replied, already standing up to head towards the shower.
“Don’t care, go shower.” Ruth muttered, shifting around the bed to get comfortable again.
By the time JC emerged now squeaky clean, his hair in curls from being rubbed dry, Ruth was awake with a copy of ‘Northern Lights’ by Phillip Pullman in her hands. “You woke me up.” She muttered, engrossed in the antics of Lyra.
“Sorry.” JC muttered, searching through his bag for clean boxers. “All I seem to do these days is apologise” he said.
“Well, come over here and kiss me instead then.” Ruth replied, putting her book down on the bedside table. It didn’t take Ruth having to ask again for JC to climb into the bed with her, taking her into his arms and kissing her, gently at first and then deeper, once he realised that she wasn’t pulling away and that everything was going to be alright.
Number of reviews: 0
Print:
Chapter or Story